Tag Archives: alternate shipping address

Every so often I come across a product or service that’s so ingenious I wish that I would have come up with the idea. preCharge Risk Management Solutions is one such service.

A popular credit card policy for many ecommerce businesses is to only ship merchandise if a customer’s shipping address matches the customers billing address. In the alternative many ecommerce businesses will contact the customer and request the customer to contact their credit card company to place the alternate shipping address on file with the credit card company. Makes sense to the ecommerce business as a fraud prevention method but makes no sense in that most online consumers prefer to have their merchandise shipped to their work address or are making purchases as gifts and would prefer to have the merchandise shipped directly to the gift recipient without having to waste 15-20 minutes speaking to a call center in India. If I’m contacted by a website that I’ve made a purchase through and they make the request or simply refuse to make an exception I simply cancel the purchase. Many ecommerce businesses face the same situation daily. How do they cater to the needs of their customers while also protecting themselves from fraudulent transactions? Luckily preCharge provides the solution.

The preCharge Certified Payments Program provides ecommerce business with guaranteed chargeback protection. If they approve an order that results in a fraudulent chargeback (merchandise purchased with a stolen credit card) they reimburse the full ticket price and the merchant chargeback fee. preCharge Risk Management provides ecommerce businesses with the ability to increase revenue by shipping to non billing addresses through their Certified Payments Program. preCharge has been in business since 2003, is PCI compliant and Level 1 Visa Certified. They have an A rating with the Better Business Bureau and is recommend by Merchant911.org, as a trusted service provider.

Merchants have the option of integrating with preCharge’s software or manually inputting orders through the preCharge.com secure web site. Average turnaround time for an order to be reviewed is approximately 1 hour although orders can take up to 24 hours to be reviewed. In the event a merchant receives a fraudulent chargeback the merchant simply submits a preCharge claim form, proof of shipping and the chargeback notification to the claims department. Claims are normally paid within 14-30 days, can take up to 45 businesses days and in extreme circumstances can take up to 180 business days. However, and most importantly, the company pays the claims.

preChage is compensated through a transaction fee and a warranty fee. They charge a transaction fee for every order that is submitted for review and if they approve the transaction they also charge a percentage of the ticket price. The pricing is merchant specific and depends on the average ticket size, the amount of orders the merchant will be submitting and whether the order is domestic or international.

That’s right, preCharge also offers verification services on international transactions as well. Many ecommerce businesses require payment by wire transfer and will not accept credit cards from international customers. Many ecommerce businesses will also only allow international customers to pay through third party payment providers. By accepting credit cards from international customers preCharge clients are not only more profitable but are able to capture business the competition isn’t. They offer verification services in over 200 countries worldwide.

So if you if you think the service is too good to be true you wouldn’t be alone as I wondered the same thing myself. That was until I told a friend about the service and he reported back to me after a year of using the service. They allowed him to use the service at no cost or obligation before he signed on as a client. It’s been a year since my friend signed on as a client. He has never filed a claim and is doing three times the amount in revenue he was doing previously.

If you’re an ecommerce business owner that sells tangible goods and does not ship to non billing addresses you owe it to yourself and your business to at at least try the service. It will cost you nothing to investigate a relationship and could make you more revenue if you sign on with them. Visit them at www.precharge.com or call 877-751-6213. If you choose not to contact them to at least inquire as to whether the service is right for your ecommerce business well stupidity is contagious.